Scythe Ninja or XP-120?

squads · Feb 1, 2006

So from what I gather both are really good air coolers. This will be for an Opty 165. I'm leaning towards the XP-120 because I know Thermalright makes great products and the fan i have blowing in the side of the case feeds directly into the 120, but it would not with the Ninja. The Ninja looks sweet but it might be a little bigger than I like.

Oh yea I also heard the Ninja works well with a low speed fan, anyone have suggestions for one? maybe a Panaflo L1A

Sentential · Feb 1, 2006

Id personally go with the ninja. It certinaly looks better and Im sure it peforms better as well.

squads · Feb 1, 2006

**** the Ninja is like 6" tall, thats too bulky, gonna go XP-120

NoodleHead · Feb 1, 2006

if the ninja fits your case then i would go for that one, but the xp120 is pretty good too, just make sure its compatible with your board.

darksparkz · Feb 1, 2006

The Ninja would outperform the XP-120 probably by 1-2C. But then the XP-120 allows you to have a 120mm fan blowing downwards cooling other components of the motherboard as well. Make sure the XP-120 has no clearance issues by checking your motherboard compability with the XP-120. If it doesn't fit well, you can consider the SI-120.

<<Spider>> · Feb 1, 2006

The difference between the XP-120 and Ninja is about 5C at load using the same exact fan (at medium speed). 5C is a lot. Ninja is cheaper than the XP and out performs the XP. See review below.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=13&artpage=1293&articID=224

I would choose the Ninja if I hadn't already bought the SI-120.

squads · Feb 1, 2006

alright, so what is a good fan for the Ninja? (relatively quiet)

Know Nuttin · Feb 1, 2006

Yate Loon D12SL-12 should do the trick.

Captain Slug · Feb 1, 2006

The ninja is also MUCH easier to install. One of the reasons I hesitate to recommend the XP-120 is that it's not an easy heatsink to work with.

GM1010 · Feb 1, 2006

You can see from that test that the Scythe is only significantly better with low speed fans, since this is what it was designed for.

Aidenswarrior · Feb 1, 2006

xp series is better because it also cools the ram and the mobo, unlike the scythe (down blowing fans)

<<Spider>> · Feb 2, 2006

squads said:
alright, so what is a good fan for the Ninja? (relatively quiet)

For heatsink, it's more important to have good air presure than the amount of air it blows. I would go with this one if I was getting the Ninja.

Delta 120x38mm Triple Blade Low Speed

larva · Feb 2, 2006

<<Spider>> said:
For heatsink, it's more important to have good air presure than the amount of air it blows. I would go with this one if I was getting the Ninja.

Delta 120x38mm Triple Blade Low Speed

The whole reason the Ninja is so good is does not require hardly any pressure compared to other heatsinks. It simply doesn't improve but a tiny amount as you go more agressive on the fan than a low-noise 120x25mm fan turning ~1200rpm. Sure you can put more powerful fans on it, but the noise will go up and the cooling performance essentially remain the same.

larva · Feb 2, 2006

GM1010 said:
You can see from that test that the Scythe is only significantly better with low speed fans, since this is what it was designed for.

Yes, but it is at the same time as good with more powerful fans--and delivers nearly the same performance with very quiet fans. All in all, it's a superior performer.

M Diddy · Feb 2, 2006

Did you guys miss this post????

The Ninja would outperform the XP-120 probably by 1-2C. But then the XP-120 allows you to have a 120mm fan blowing downwards cooling other components of the motherboard as well. Make sure the XP-120 has no clearance issues by checking your motherboard compability with the XP-120. If it doesn't fit well, you can consider the SI-120.

My mobo temps never raises more then 1 C and is a constant, cool, 28 C. I'd sacrifice the 1-2C on the CPU for that feature....

larva · Feb 2, 2006

The mb temp is the northbridge, which ordinarily has its own fan and as such is not heavily influenced by heatsink design. It's the PWM temp that is of concern, and while it will be a few degrees lower with a SI120 than with a Ninja if that is the only thing that seperates you from instability you probably ought consider changes to the system's design rather than the heatsink's.

PWM temps with the Ninja aren't nearly as bad as SI120 owners represent them to be. If you chop off the Ninja's release tabs on one side and mount the fan to blow through the aluminum sink between the CPU and the fins rather that at the side of it, they are that much better. If the PWM section is not overloaded, the fan is placed on a clip side as low as possible, and the case airflow adequate PWM temps are well enough controlled with the Ninja.

sJetski · Feb 2, 2006

<<Spider>> said:
The difference between the XP-120 and Ninja is about 5C at load using the same exact fan (at medium speed). 5C is a lot. Ninja is cheaper than the XP and out performs the XP. See review below.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=13&artpage=1293&articID=224

I would choose the Ninja if I hadn't already bought the SI-120.

A little off topic but funny how in another article madshrimps claims this new opteron 165 heatsink works as good as the XP-90: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=1596&articID=399

darksparkz · Feb 2, 2006

Well the Scythe Ninja is a better heatsink when you have a good case air configuration, ie. a nice push-pull configuration with the Antec P180. So with a good case like that, your quiet fan would perform even better.

It's up to you, I went with the SI-120 and am already considering getting a Scythe Ninja because the SI-120 wasn't up to my standards, it's lapped already too, almost 48C on load. Former skt754 CPU was only 42C load with its stock heatsink.

<<Spider>> · Feb 3, 2006

darksparkz said:
Well the Scythe Ninja is a better heatsink when you have a good case air configuration, ie. a nice push-pull configuration with the Antec P180. So with a good case like that, your quiet fan would perform even better.

It's up to you, I went with the SI-120 and am already considering getting a Scythe Ninja because the SI-120 wasn't up to my standards, it's lapped already too, almost 48C on load. Former skt754 CPU was only 42C load with its stock heatsink.

me too. I have the SI-120 and just ordered the Ninja.

squads · Feb 3, 2006

ok I ordered the Ninja and got a Panaflo medium speed fan + fan controller so I can have some flexibility. But a question about installation of the heatsink. Do I just put a bb-sized drop and install the heatsink or do I spread a thin layer of AS5 over the entire surface of the heat-spreader?

Scythe Ninja or XP-120?

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